1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle key system for verifying identity of fingerprint information captured and for controlling pieces of equipment in a vehicle according to the verification result. More particularly, it relates to a vehicle key system capable of switching between a plurality of processing modes by detecting a predetermined manipulation performed by users without having to provide an additional switch or the like intended for enabling users to perform switching between the plurality of processing modes, thereby reducing the cost of the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional vehicle key system as disclosed in Japanese patent publication (TOKKOUHEI) 5-22791, fingerprint information captured by a sensor or the like is transmitted from a mobile transmitter to a receiver mounted on a vehicle and the fingerprint information is verified against pre-registered fingerprint information. The vehicle key system can release the lock of doors only if there is a match between them. When an authorized user wants to register information about the user's fingerprint, he or she has to manipulate a switch or the like to switch the system to a registration mode in which fingerprint information is captured from the user's finger and is registered to the system.
Japanese patent application publications No.61-64977, No.11-93478, and No. 11-245771 disclose other conventional vehicle key systems, respectively.
A problem with conventional vehicle key systems constructed as above is that there is a need to provide a switch intended for switching between a plurality of fingerprint information processing modes, such as a verification mode in which identity of users is verified and a registration mode in which fingerprint information about a new user's fingerprint is registered, and therefore the cost of implementing the vehicle key system is increased because of the above-mentioned switch.
Another problem is that it is difficult to provide space for the above-mentioned switch intended for switching between the plurality of fingerprint information processing modes in a case that a number of switches are already provided, and therefore the switch is easy to manipulate by accident.
A further problem is that the provision of such a switch can cause users to touch the switch by mistake and then manipulate the switch by accident.